The Purple Violet Flower

Have you ever wished your Mother had kept all of your baby and special mementos from your childhood all in one place? As the second child in my family, I discovered that all of my baby items had been stuffed in a bag along with a baby book that had one page filled out. My older sister had a lovely baby book and all of her baby keepsakes were stored in a large white box. I used to kid my Mom about how I was "neglected" as the second child. She would always say " Just wait until you have your own children and you will do the same."

After my son was born, I was so meticulous about keeping his baby items and I accumulated so much from his first year, that I could never fit it all into the tiny keepsake boxes that I would see in the baby boutiques. Fourteen months later when my daughter arrived, I just threw all of her things in a pile that I wanted to keep and one day, stuffed them into a plastic bag. I had become my Mother. Not long after, a friend of mine was having her first baby and I decided to use my artistic talent and paint a chest for her that matched her babys' room decor. It was so well received at her baby shower, that I started getting orders for the small chests. This led me to develop a generously sized keepsake chest where parents could store ALL of the baby items they wanted to keep.

I researched several different kinds of material for the construction of the chests and after many different models, decided to use 100% poplar wood for constructing the chests and base coating the chests in white or ivory solvent based paint. I would then paint whatever design a customer requested to match their decor. Now, I present my own designs on my website and have also added a line of specialty chests and wedding keepsake chests.

The wedding keepsake chests fill much of the same need as the baby chests. I realized that after our wedding, we were left with many small items that we wanted to preserve and show to our children some day. The sizeable wedding chest is both decorative and functional. The designs include the bride and groom's name and wedding date along with painted flowers or other items from their wedding day. Inside, their is plenty of room for storing items such as marriage license, garter, toasting goblets, cards, photos, dried flowers, guest book and many other special mementos.

Each keepsake chest is lovingly хэнд painted in my Pennsylvania studio and is delivered within three weeks of placing the order. I also now wholesale a line of baby keepsake chests to other baby boutique websites. To see the current designs of baby, specialty and wedding keepsake chests, visit

Stacie Dale, founder of Stacie Dale Designs Inc., began her career as a fashion designer in 1992. After spending nine years in the apparel industry, Stacie decided to return to her first love of painting. She spent several years creating хэнд painted furniture and keepsake chests for friends and local stores in the Philadelphia area. In 2002, Stacie opened her website, at the urging of a good friend and as a means of staying home with her two children. The website has proved to be a wonderful outlet for unique design creations and a way to reach many new customers worldwide. In 2006, Stacie added a wholesale line that will continue to grow the business and make her designs even more accessible. Stacie strives to provide a high quality keepsake chest that will be a family heirloom for years to come.